Apraxia resources needed

[SunshineMom]

My cousin's child (2yrs) was recently diagnosed with apraxia. The family is seeking resources but I would like to give them more information so I am hoping the Hive can help. Book suggestions and/or therapies which were helpful? Links to current research? Any sensory equipment? Thank you:001_smile:

[VinNY]

My cousin's child (2yrs) was recently diagnosed with apraxia. The family is seeking resources but I would like to give them more information so I am hoping the Hive can help. Book suggestions and/or therapies which were helpful? Links to current research? Any sensory equipment? Thank you:001_smile:

 

Get to a fully trained PROMPT speech therapist. My dtr is apraxic with 1% expressive language scores. I have had numerous therapists through early intervention, school and private for oral/motor training. We saw the best results with PROMPT therapy. My dtr also has dysarthria,too. You will see quicker results with someone that knows how to incorporate PROMPT into their speech sessions.

 

It is a long road, but my girl will be 11 (she has cognitive delays also) and sounds so much more intelligible now.

[PeterPan]

PROMPT using the best qualified person they can get from the PROMPT Institute locator. Our therapist is certified, and she's AMAZING. We drive 2.5 hours each way, and it's WORTH it. If you have to drive farther, do it. They teach you how to do the technique at home.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa9KOMtY-N0 Watch this video of Deborah Hayden explaining PROMPT.

 

Google apraxia and PROMPT and find the yahoo group and watch videos of kiddos who did regular therapy and then PROMPT. My ds is diagnosed with moderate verbal apraxia. I decided I wasn't willing to fiddle around with regular therapy and hoping. Kauffman flashcards weren't going to help. PROMPT had him *talking* the very first day. Not "communicating" like the other ST said would happen but TALKING. PROMPT gets to the heart of the motor control issue, makes the connections, gets it going.

 

Flax or fish oil. We use flax, because he gets fussy with fish. Definitely bumps his speech. Doesn't replace ST, but it helps get all the connections going.

 

Hmm, sensory equipment? Well the PROMPT therapist will evaluate his oral tone, etc. and tell them what he needs. We've done things with straw bloks, crazy straws, things you blow, etc. etc. but it's all based on what the therapist finds.

 

I wouldn't waste money on books. Normally I'm a big book fan, but my apraxia books are rotting on a shelf. Just get the best PROMPT therapist you can find. Then do the parent workshop to learn how to implement it at home. Worth way more than books.

 

Apraxia is a diagnosis for the long haul. We've done 2 years of therapy and have more to go. After you get over the shock of the diagnosis and worrying that any more kids you have could also have it (very possible), then you wait for the therapy to kick in. For us, it was pretty quick. I would say after about a year he was at the point where he basically blended in. Well nuts, I can be more precise than that. He started PROMPT in the fall, right as he turned 2 (two years ago). By Christmas of this year (age 3.5, so 1 year and 4 months of therapy) he tested as age-appropriate on a motor control test (VMPAC). At that point we were able to spread out our therapy sessions to deal with the bad weather we get here. Now we're back to doing them. We're doing them every other week at this point trying to keep ahead of his rapid language acquisition.

 

You won't really hear about a progression like that with regular therapy. We did weekly, complete with the long drives, for about 6 months, then started spreading out. Then we were able to take a few months off this winter. Now we're back to every other week. Anyways, you get to this place of peace, and I wanted to say that to your friend. If you get good therapy, it's not this death sentence the way it feels. I'm now more comfortable with the idea of having another baby if one should come, even if there is apraxia again. For a while there I really wasn't sure, because it was such a shock.

 

My boy is a real chatterbox now, so share that with your friends. I no longer have to explain why he doesn't xyz and haven't had to for about 9 months. With good therapy you can get through this. We're now approaching 4 and working on things like phonemic awareness (distinguishing sounds, rhyming, etc.). Just this week he has started singing with a slight bit of tune. Before that it was all flat, no melody at all. It's still not perfect, but he's becoming interested in music tapes (listens to them while he goes to the bathroom, haha). So it feels really horrible while you're in this beginning stage, wondering if you're doing enough, wondering if he'll come to the other side, but I can say pretty confidently he WILL come to the other side with good therapy, get it, and just go through the process. I had so much stress that first year. I gained 20 pounds from all the driving and eating my stress. I was afraid to let him play by himself, worried I wasn't constantly putting into him enough and trying hard enough. That's no good for the other kids. It's going to be ok. The therapy will work (PROMPT) and they'll come to the other side.

[eoffg1]

Here's a link to: The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA). Which is a helpful resource for information.

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/